


Secrets and Pies

by orphan_account



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:46:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7853095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a D12drabble prompt on tumblr - eavesdropping<br/>A tale of (barely) hidden desires<br/>In which Katniss is canon-typically clueless and Peeta is stereotypically used as eye-candy - sorry Peeta, I know there is more to you than muscle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets and Pies

Hot breath whispered on her neck, lips ghosting over her skin, the firm muscle of a taut tongue ran down over her collar bone to find her nipple. She arched upwards to meet him, pressing her fingertips into the flesh and sinew of his back, clinging on as her heart began to race, moisture pooling at her centre. The need for him was consuming her, making her thighs spread beneath his hips, her soles running down his calves, every inch of her body used to take in whatever sensation was available to it. His cock was hot and hard on her stomach, urging against her. 

She ran her hand down his chest, over his strong stomach, feeling the coarsening hairs as she reached down for him. His fingers were circling and pinching, plucking at her until he could hear the music of her moans. 

“I promise this will stay our secret,” she recognised the voice at last. Every night she had this dream, but she always woke not sure who it was who fulfilled all her cravings. 

“Thank you Peeta.” 

“Huh!”-her eyes snapped open, and the dream was gone, leaving her disorientated and confused. She recognised that voice too. 

Katniss blushed as she realised how graphic her dream had been; she wondered if she had been calling out in her sleep, and if anyone would have heard. As the fog cleared she realised the voices were coming from outside. She’d left her window open to try to relieve some of the heat in the night. In fact, it was probably the voices that had woken her at this time. Her clock said 5.00am. What was Peeta Mellark doing outside her house at five in the morning, invading her dreams. The thought of him possibly overhearing her was too much to bear. 

She slipped out of bed, her supple, naked body moving in one fluid motion, to peer through the curtains. She made sure to keep down low, below the level of the window sill, out of sight of her target. 

It was definitely Peeta’s car, she recognised it from school. The light reflected on his golden curls as he ducked back inside where the conversation wouldn’t be overheard. This was going to drive her crazy. She watched the secret liaison for around 5 minutes before the woman climbed out the passenger side. She hadn’t been mistaken. It was her mother. 

Hayley Everdeen stopped for a moment to lean back in through Peeta’s window, whispering into his ear, something that made his shoulders bounce with a silent chuckle. ‘Hell mother, it just keeps getting worse.’ First there was the drinking and now hitting on boys Katniss’s age. Not just any boy either, Peeta! He was… well, he was her secret. 

She lay back on her bed, too upset to think. She hadn’t even got to the end of her dream, before this nightmare took over, leaving her both frustrated and angry. One thing was for certain, she was going to have to find out what was going on. 

The more she thought about it, the more it occurred to her that it was entirely possible that Peeta was up to something. He had demonstrated his ability to keep secrets and he was definitely hard to work out. It had started way back, when they were little kids. Katniss had to make her own lunch from an early age, every day the same, one slice of bread folded over with jelly inside. One day, Peeta came over to her in the yard and gave her his cookie. She had of course run away, but he had watched her, sitting under the tree at the far end of the school yard where she had given in to the temptation to eat it rather than give it back. She had been so ashamed. But from then on, every day, he gave her a cookie or some other treat, which she had taken with a quiet “thanks” or a scowl depending on how proud she was feeling. She thought it would stop when they moved up to high school, but after a couple of days the baked goods started appearing in her locker. She didn’t know how he got in; he never said anything, and she wasn’t going to be the one to open up that conversation. 

She sat behind him in home room, a position where she had become very familiar with his shoulders and the way they had broadened out through his teens. Today he was wearing his long sleeved Henley, but her usual enjoyment of how he filled his clothes was spoiled by the thought of him having some sort of relationship with her mother. 

Peeta stifled a yawn. 

“Tired Peeta?” She couldn’t help herself. The years of avoiding speaking to him directly now broken by her annoyance. 

He turned around suddenly, surprised by her voice. His hair looked more dishevelled than usual, falling into his sleepy eyes. 

“Katniss…hi…” he clearly didn’t know what to say for himself. His face had turned a sweet shade of pink. ‘Caught out’ she thought, glad to make him squirm. She dug the knife in, with a flash of one of her rarely seen smiles. “Are you not sleeping well?” she added with fake concern. 

He frowned. “Do you…?” He stopped mid sentence, clearly thinking better of whatever he was going to say, he shook his head and smiled back instead. “No, I could do with catching up on a few hours in bed.” 

She found herself matching his blush, the image of the man in her dream picking this moment to pop into her head. Unable to keep up her side of the conversation, she just nodded and looked away until he turned back around to face the front of the class. She hated how awkward he made her feel. One day she was going to have the whole ‘leaving food in her locker’ deal out with him. Did he see her as some sort of personal charity case? 

She managed to avoid him for the rest of the day, although the gift was there as always. A cinnamon bun. She glared at it, wanting to be able to throw it in the bin, but unable to resist knowing how good it would taste. “Damn you and your tasty treats,” she cursed him for addicting her this way. She hated knowing that she was going to miss it when they went off their separate ways at the end of the year. How had he managed to sneak his way into her life? She was usually so good at keeping people out. 

Katniss made dinner for her and Prim when she got in. Her mother had left a note to say she was working a late shift at the care home. It was best to just believe this; it was probably the truth. 

It was the usual late shift time when the sound of the car broke Katniss away from her book. She went down to greet her mother in the kitchen, finding her staring into space, exhausted. Her hair scraped back off her unmade up face emphasised the lines that were starting to become wrinkles on her brow. The dark shadows under her eyes spoke of years of poor diet and lack of sleep. But she was staying sober and that was a definite positive for the whole family. Katniss realised she hadn’t the heart to stay angry with her right now. 

“I saved you some dinner,” she pulled the warm plate from the oven, setting it on the table in front of her mother. 

“You cooked!” She put her hand out to cover Katniss’s. “Thank you, sweetheart. I know it hasn’t been easy for you keeping this family going for me. I am going to try to make it up to you, I promise.” 

Her mother’s promises hadn’t carried much weight over the years, but she tried to accept this for what it was. She left her to eat, going back up to her room to get ready for bed. 

As usual, she was lulling herself to sleep with quiet music, when the sound of a car door put her back on alert. That was her mother’s car. Not bothering with the window this time, she rushed down stairs in time to see her pulling away from the kerb. 

She had to know if she was going to see Peeta again. 

Slipping on her old, worn out trainers she ran out into the night, still in her tank and sleep shorts. The route to the Mellark’s house was longer by road than through the side alleys and snickets that children used. Katniss was swift on her feet and silent too. She cut through the lawns of the smart houses near the baker’s home, as their pet dogs slept on, unaware of the trespasser. 

“No!,” she pulled up short at the sight of her mothers car; leaning on her knees to try to catch her breath. A part of her had still been expecting to be wrong. This was too twisted. She wasn’t sure what she had planned to do if she caught them, maybe it was time for a confrontation. But they weren’t in the car this time. She assumed she must have gone in. His parent’s car wasn’t there, just Peeta’s, his brothers were both away at college. So it appeared that her mother was paying him a private late night visit, this couldn’t get any worse. 

Pulling her tank down where it had ridden up over her hips, she approached the house. It was dark at the front; just a dim glow of light through a small upstairs window that she supposed would be on a landing. After a quick check round to make sure she hadn’t been seen, she jumped up onto the side gate, and was over and into the garden at the back in a moment. She had never been to Peeta’s house before. The garden had been planted with rows of vegetables and fruit bushes, as well as flowers. Wind chimes had been hung from the branches of an apple tree. The smell of the grass was sweet and fresh in the night air. But inside that house something decidedly unsweet was going on. 

Katniss looked up. Two windows were lit; one downstairs and one up. She paused. Was it better not to know? She could go back home, and pretend she had never been disturbed. She could try asking her mother, but past experience didn’t lead her to think that would be the way to the truth. And that was what she needed now; the truth. 

With that decided she opted for the most direct path and tried the back door. It wasn’t locked. She slipped inside, finding herself in a utility room with the washer and drier. A pile of men’s underwear and socks lay neatley folded on the ironing board. This was the opposite of her home, where bra’s and panties were strewn over radiators. She wondered for a moment what it would be like for Mrs Mellark, outnumbered by men, four to one. 

The next door led into an unlit hallway, with stairs heading up and three more doors to other rooms. She could hear voices, a man and a woman, calling her to press her ear to the first door. It was definitely her mother, but she couldn’t quite make out the words, her tone was soft and soothing, a bit like how she talked to Prim. There was a deep groan, a mix of pleasure and pain. Good grief, what was she doing to him. 

“Don’t stop Hayley, that felt really good.” 

“If we’re going to carry on, I’ll just have to nip and get …” she couldn’t hear what, but it was clear she was coming towards the door. 

The only escape was up the stairs. Managing to stay on her toes, she pelted up the curving stair case, arriving on the next landing just as Peeta appeared through a door surrounded by clouds of steam, like a god emerging from the heavens, his hair curled up by the humidity. Katniss' eyes followed the path of the drips of water still clinging to his shoulders and arms; one more adventurous drop ran down into the dip in the centre of his glistening, bare chest, leading her gaze to a line of hair descending, growing darker as it disappeared under the small towel which barely covered those parts Katniss only let herself think about in her dreams. 

The vision seemed so far removed from anything that could possibly be real she forgot to do anything but stare. 

“Katniss!,” he hissed, “What the fuck!” 

She put her finger on her lips to shush him, shaking her head as she silently pleaded with him to understand. 

His eyes still wide, he gripped his towel with one hand using the other to show her into what turned out to be his room, shutting the door firmly behind him. He turned to face her as she stood in the middle of his bedroom, very aware of how exposed she felt, only covered by her tatty, over washed, sleep shorts and a tank that kept riding up to expose her midriff. She hadn’t really thought this through too well. 

“So, what’s going on Katniss?” 

It irked her to be on the back foot. He’d started this, whether he knew it or not. When life had her in a corner, Katniss always came out fighting. 

“I don’t know,” She tossed back. “What is going on Peeta?” 

When life came out fighting, Peeta took a step back and waited for it to settle down. 

“Can I put some clothes on?” He crossed over to a chest of drawers, causing Katniss to suck in her breath as he closed the distance between them. He tossed a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt on to the bed and unwound his towel, placing it neatly on the back of a chair. 

Katniss was torn by the strong urge to look and the shame she felt giving in to her desire, it was like the cinnamon bun conflict multiplied 100 times. It was so damn annoying how he tied her up in knots. Looking at the way he was smirking at her, she was pretty sure he knew it too. 

She forced her eyes to the floor, listening to his shorts being pulled over, what she now had confirmed was a very well muscled ass. His belt fastened and a t-shirt was tugged over those unruly blonde locks. 

“I’m decent,” he called her attention to look back his way again. He reclined on the edge of his bed with his legs lolling away from each other, leaning back on his elbows as he watched her. “It’s nice to see you.” 

She tugged again at the curling hem of her top, irritated by its refusal to cover her up. Peeta couldn’t help but notice each time she tugged it down, she revealed a little more cleavage instead. 

“Why is my mother here?” she was going to get to the bottom of this. 

“I’m sorry Katniss, but I can’t tell you. I made a promise.” 

She worried her bottom lip as she thought about this. A promise meant something to her too. She had felt the sharp edge of a broken promise on too many occasions in her life. It could cut deep. 

There was just one thing she had to be clear about, and knowing this was worth the embarrassment of asking. “Is there something going on between you and my mother? I saw you outside our house this morning, she was whispering in your ear. You looked kind of intimate.” 

She was glad to see he wasn’t laughing at her when she dared to look. His face was serious and kind, trying to find the right words to set her mind at rest. 

“100% there is nothing intimate going on between me and your mother. I agreed to help her out with something, and I promised to keep it a secret. It’s nothing that you would need to be worried about. Please trust me on that.” 

She studied his face. His honest blue eyes held her gaze. If he was lying then he was one hell of an actor. 

“Ok.” That was going to have to be enough for her, for now at least. She wasn’t really satisfied, but Peeta didn’t look like someone who could be easily forced to say anything he didn’t want to. 

“I’m sorry. I feel bad for leaving you feeling shut out. No-one likes to feel like that.” He was genuinely apologetic. 

“True,” she shrugged. 

They just looked at each other for a long moment more. Until this week, their longest conversation had consisted of “Would you like my cookie Katnith?” (His two front teeth had been missing at the time) but there was some sort of connection there between them. 

“I’ll go then,” she said at last. 

“I’ll walk you home.” 

She complained but he insisted, loaning her a hoodie, for which she was grateful as the night had turned cold. 

They had to go back the long way round, Peeta was not made for creeping through gardens, but he did make her feel safe and less self-conscious than she usually felt on her own. He teased her gently and she found herself relaxing enough to laugh at his corny jokes. 

If she wasn’t going to solve the mystery of her mother tonight, there was something else she could clear up. She wrapped the soft fabric around her more tightly before asking, “It is you isn’t it, still leaving me those cakes and buns?” 

He looked down at her, his eyes hiding under soft blonde lashes like sentries guarding the windows to his soul. 

“Sorry,” his voice wasn’t his usual confident tone. “Is it creepy? It is, isn't it?” 

“No,” she had never thought of it that way, not if it was Peeta doing it. “It’s delicious. I’m going to miss them.” 

He was looking at her straight again now. “Why would you miss them? If you don’t mind, I won’t stop now.” 

“After school I mean, when you go off to college and real life kicks in.” 

“You’re not planning to go to college?” He was surprised. Katniss seemed to him like a girl who had places to go and things to do with her life. He hadn’t pictured her sticking around. 

There were so many reasons she wouldn’t be continuing with education. Her mother needed her, her sister needed her. There was the expense. Peeta had an argument for every one of her reasons-community college, grants, sponsorship. 

“Why do you care, anyway?” she fired back eventually, when he had almost broken her down. 

He reached out for her hand which was now cold from the chill air. “I’m just trying to be a friend, that’s all. I’m not trying to tell you what to do with your life. No-one can choose that but you.” 

They walked the last block in companionable silence, hand in hand. Her mother’s car was already home by the time they made it back. The lights were out and Katniss knew the doors would all be locked. She would have to climb up the drainpipe to her window. 

“See you tomorrow.” She put out her hand for Peeta to shake. 

He took the offered hand, enclosing her cold skin in the heat that had been generated during the walk, “Do you think you’ll talk to me in school now? Do you think we could be friends?” 

She knew he was teasing her. “It’s hard to be friends with someone who is keeping a secret from you,” she replied with a shrug. 

He let out a small grunt of frustration,“You could just ask your mum. I don’t think it’s really all that big a deal. I just can’t break my promise.” 

She understood, but she was mean enough to leave him suffering, just a little, for keeping it from her. "What would a friend do?" 

Without waiting for a reply, Katniss turned and jumped up onto the pipe, clinging to the cracks in the wall as she had so many times before, unaware of the effect her agile movements had on Peeta, who watched with awe until she slipped easily through the window into her room. 

The next day he came over at lunch with her treat-chocolate brownies-rather than leaving them in her locker. He sat with her, and after a small amount of awkwardness they discovered they had plenty to talk about. It became the new arrangement, lunch and something sweet with Peeta, Monday to Friday. 

She was glad to find the erotic dreams had stopped, especially since she thought she knew who they had been about. It seemed, now he was her friend, her brain wouldn’t let her think about him that way, even in her sleep. All she dreamed about now was cake. Nothing to be embarrassed about in that, and hardly surprising given the quality of cake Peeta was bringing her. At Christmas there were gingerbread figures, beautifully iced. One he had even made to look just like her. 

Hanging out with Peeta meant she was now accepted by a whole group of people who had previously ignored her. On New Years Eve she was invited along to Cassie Glimmer’s house party. She hated every second, realising just how much she still didn’t fit in with this crowd. Peeta found her just as she was sneaking off. 

“I think I’d rather be at home for the New Year. I don’t know these people.” 

“Let me take you home at least,” he pleaded. “I shouldn’t have dragged you here. You’re far too good for this place.” 

He pulled her braid so she knew he was teasing and agreed to let him drive her home as his penance. 

They took a tour around the town first, looking at the lights still up from Christmas, reminiscing about times they had shared growing up, even if they hadn’t been on speaking terms then. 

It was just turning midnight as he pulled up at her house. 

The radio station was counting down to the New Year. 

Peeta turned to her and gently leaned in. She thought he might kiss her; she thought it might be kind of nice if he did. What she hadn’t expected was the lightening bolt to her chest as he brushed his mouth on hers, pausing long enough to feel her shuddering exhalation, before continuing to taste her softly parted lips, his caresses enticing her to join him. 

It was only a minute, maybe two, maybe ten, but it was different to any other kiss she had experienced. It felt like her dream, the way she kept wanting more. Her hands had found themselves involved in the curls of hair at the nape of his neck, but she caught herself before she gave in to the urge to plunge them deeper. Frightened by the desire she had discovered, she backed away. 

“Happy new year Peeta,” she smiled, pretending with all the acting skill she could muster that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

She quickly climbed out the car, turning to give him a cheery wave. At least she wouldn’t be seeing him again till the holidays were over.

But it was just a few hours later when the now familiar sound of his brakes disturbed her sleep once more. There was her mother going out to see him, laden down with cardboard boxes. She had thought this was over. As her mother closed the car door Peeta looked up at her window. “Damn.” She ducked back from the glass, but she knew it was too late. He’d definitely seen her. She climbed back under her covers and closed her eyes, confused as to why she felt like the one who had been caught out. 

Her bedroom door was slowly pushed open. 

“Katniss,” it was her mother’s low tone. 

“I know you’re awake. Come down to the kitchen, we need to talk.” 

She found it hard to accept her mother’s authority, she hadn’t been a fit parent for much of Katniss’s childhood, but her curiosity won out here. She wanted to know what was going on. 

A subdued early morning Peeta was sitting at their table with a cup of tea. She looked down at the old t-shirt and holey bed socks she had been sleeping in this time and frowned out her frustration with life. 

She sat down as far away from him as she could. 

“Peeta told me you’d seen us,” her mother poured some hot water on leaves for Katniss, releasing the scent of mint. 

She looked up at him, still annoyed. 

“I never said I wouldn’t say anything to your mother. It seemed like the straight forward thing to do.” 

Of course he was right. This was how normal people would deal with it, by talking to each other. It just wasn’t the way things had been done in the Everdeen house for a long time. 

“I’m sorry you didn’t feel you could ask," her mother continued. 

Katniss pouted knowing she was coming off as the sulky child in this. 

And it really wasn’t such a big deal. Turned out her mother was trying to earn some extra money offering alternative therapies to people with problems like back pain and headaches. Of course, being her mother, it wasn’t quite above board. She wasn’t insured or licensed. 

“She has cured my father’s back problem though,” Peeta spoke out in her defence. 

“But why are you here at this time in the morning?” that still didn’t add up. 

Her mother answered for him, “Peeta’s coach has been buying my healing ointment. He says it’s better than anything he can get over the counter for sprains and pulled muscles. He’s been buying in bulk and selling it on for me. Peeta kindly agreed to pass it on.” 

“This is the time we get up to get started at the bakery,” he explained, “It was just easier for me to come as soon as I got up.” 

“And I was hoping to avoid too much attention,” her mother admitted. She was trying to gauge Katniss’s reaction. “You don’t approve?” 

“Just please don’t go getting in trouble with the law. Prim has been so happy to see you back on track. The last thing we need is a fine to pay, or you in jail.” 

Her mother digested the words, aware of how much responsibility her eldest child had had to take on. 

“Peeta also tells me you haven’t applied for college.” 

Katniss shook her head in disbelief at him. “You’ve been having quite the heart to heart about me.” 

Her mother interrupted again. “It’s something else I have to say sorry for. I just assumed you would have got on with that. I didn’t bother chasing you up, it seemed like the sort of thing you’d have in hand, and I know you don’t think I have the right to an opinion on your life choices.” 

Katniss scowled, annoyed at Peeta hearing so much detail about their family life. 

“Go to college Katniss. Spread your wings. We can get you a grant, I can support you. Don’t hold yourself back because of me.” Her mother started to cry, and for once Katniss actually felt sorry for her. They hugged for the first time in a very long time. Katniss realised she had tears in her eyes too. 

She wiped her nose on the back of her hand, past caring what Peeta must think of her by now. 

He stood up, ready to leave them to it. But Katniss stopped him by wrapping her arms around his neck. He returned the hug, enveloping her in a wall of muscle. She lifted up onto her toes to reach his ear and whispered, “Thank you.” 

Despite all the emotion of the holidays, life fell back into its comfortable rhythm. Peeta still brought her something for lunch and they ate together every day at school. Sometimes they met up in the evening to study or just hang out, but there were no more parties or kisses. He did take her to prom, where they danced the night away, the way best friends would. 

That summer they decided to go camping. There was supposed to be a group of them but everyone else dropped out. Peeta drove them out of state to find a secluded spot to pitch the tent by the side of a lake. He soon had the fire glowing, and Katniss could feel all the tension of the final high school year easing away. 

“I’m glad we came away. We deserve it.” she said, leaning into her friend. 

Peeta wrapped his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder, watching the shapes of the flames until the embers burned down. 

She was asleep in no time. 

Peeta woke her as she cried out in the night. They were lying right up to each other, nose to nose in his tent. 

“Katniss, are you ok?” he looked a little bemused. 

“Sorry,” she was aware she had been having one of her vivid dreams. 

“What was I doing to you?” he quirked his eye brows at her. “You seemed to be enjoying it; you kept asking for more.” 

She blushed a little but was glad it was nothing like her old dreams. She could share this with him, it would make him laugh. 

“You’ll love this, you were feeding me. Well, we were feeding each other, cream cakes.” 

“Really,” he sounded interested. “Give me the details.” 

“First I was feeding you, one of those red velvet cakes. You were licking the cream off the top. And then you were feeding me. A cream horn, it was huge actually, but I couldn’t get enough of it.” 

Peeta couldn’t hold back any longer, he rolled over on his back in fits of laughter. 

“It’s not that funny,” she scowled, “dreams are supposed to be weird.” 

He turned back towards her, brushing a lock of raven hair behind her ear. 

“What do you think it means?” She noticed how warm and rich his voice sounded, it resonated in her chest, down into her belly and lower. 

“Well, I suppose it was about us.” 

“I think so too.” His hand came back up to touch her face again, his thumb brushing over her lips. 

“I’d really like to taste your creamy red velvet cake,” he couldn’t quite keep his face straight, but the laughter was for them both, not at her expense. She found herself laughing along, feeling free out here far from any prying eyes. Peeta felt no resistance as he pulled her into his arms, swinging her over to lie on top of him. He had admired her for so long, but she had never been more beautiful than right now, her face lit up with laughter, silver eyes shining in the moonlight, framed by a waterfall of hair. She was the woman of his dreams. 

Katniss melted into his kiss, ripples of mirth still making her smile as she opened her mouth and her heart to him, making way for their joy to grow into passion. Her hips bucked as his strong fingers explored her body, her movements tumbling them over so she lay panting beneath him. Peeta's face was barely an inch from her, close enough so that even she couldn't mistake what lay behind that look in his eye. She reached inside his shirt, to touch the skin over his torso, winding her hands around to experience the hard flesh on his flanks and the sinews of his back. The soles of her feet slid down the backs of his legs. His hot breath whispered on her neck, causing her nipples to peak, aching for more. There was nothing to fear after all; she knew just how it went from here.


End file.
